Former world number one Jean-Michel SAIVE (BEL) has announced that he will stand for President of the International Table Tennis Federation at a press conference in Brussels, Belgium, on 19 January 2017.

The election will be held at the Annual General Meeting to be staged in Dusseldorf on Wednesday 31st May during the Liebherr 2017 World Championships. Jean-Michel SAIVE lines up alongside Germany's Thomas WEIKERT and Qatar's Khalil AL-MOHANNADI, the current respective holders of the offices of President and Deputy President.

The deadline for National Associations to submit nominations for Presidential candidates is 30 April 2017.47-year-old Jean-Michel SAIVE had a glittering international career, which saw him reaching the final of the World Championships in 1993, becoming the 1994 European Champion and competing in seven straight Olympic Games.In his words, the current Chair of the Athletes Commission of the European Olympic Committee issued a 11 Point Programme at the press conference:

1-0 TABLE TENNIS FIRST, ITTF FIRSTMy motto is Table Tennis First, ITTF First. The ITTF is very ambitious in trying to make table tennis one of the top sports in the World and the ITTF one of the top federations in the World. We must create an atmosphere of 'Excellence' in all ITTF activities.

2-0 CONSULTATION AND COMMUNICATIONAll major decisions will be made only after extensive consultation with the member national associations and all stakeholders, this includes any major decisions affecting the World Table Tennis Championships. In particular, we will increase 'two-way' communications with our Continental Federations, National Associations, the Board of Directors, and all groups that work on the development of our sport.3-0 SPORT FOR ALLAt the heart of my candidacy, there is a desire that is fundamental to me: I want to pay more attention to the base of our sport, the hundreds of millions of players who are in love with table tennis! The ITTF must be a federation for all and not just for the elite. I would also like to integrate the World Veteran Championships and the Veteran Circuit into the ITTF's competition programme.

4-0 ITTF ROLE MODELSIn consultation with the Continental Federations, we will appoint Athlete Role Models, one male and female from each Continent, to promote our sport.

5-0 CLOSER RELATIONS WITH THE IOC AND THE OLYMPIC MOVEMENTThe ITTF could and should be much closer to the IOC. One of my major aims is to increase the number of events and medals at the Olympic Games.

6-0 DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATIONThe ITTF has one of the best development programmes in the world of sport. The ITTF staff and volunteers work extremely hard on a daily basis, with limited funds and resources, to develop our sport worldwide. My intention is to double the development budget and to provide the necessary human resources to spread our sport throughout every part of the world.7-0 EQUIPMENT AND QUALITY OF TABLE TENNIS BALLSPlayers at all levels, especially at lower levels, complain about the poor quality of table tennis balls. I will personally visit our manufacturer partners.8-0 STABILITYMy intention is to convince all levels of decision-makers within the ITTF not to make any more changes to our rules (Laws of Table Tennis) for a set period of time. Instead, out of official competitions, we can welcome experiments and tests to evaluate the impact changes would have. I believe that we need this period of stability.

9-0 MARKETING AND PRESENTATION OF OUR SPORTThe ITTF is revitalizing its marketing strategies. Our goal should be to introduce new sponsors and advertisers from different parts of the world and to provide them with a high return on their investment in terms of the promotion and visibility of their product. We must make table tennis more 'fashionable'.

10-0 GOOD GOVERNANCEGood governance and good management is my number one priority. We will ensure that the ITTF follows all aspects of good management and respects all principles of good governance.

11-0 LEADERSHIP AND TEAM CONCEPTTable tennis has the distinction of being both an individual and a team sport. It was a privilege to have competed not only as an individual, but also as a very passionate team member. I intend to lead the ITTF as a team player.

Saive is definitely FUNNIER, but which candidate would make a better President? Not sure. But I can tell from the above that he's no raving lunatic, nor is he a conspiracy theorist, I don't see any rants about the usual stuff about corruption, plastic balls, TTX, etc. which is a big plus for me. Of course, I don't get to vote.

As some of you would know already, in May 2017 there will be an election for ITTF president, and so far the 2 candidates are Jean-michel Saive and current (un-elected) president Thomas Weikert.If you had a vote (unfortunately individuals don't, only National Associations do), who would you vote for and why?

Attachment:

weiker-vs-saive.jpg

The poll is about 2 candidates Saive and Weikart. However there is also the third candidate: The current VP of ITTF- from Qatar! The Qatar lobby has certainly big money and the might have the votes of Middle East/Africa and Asia! Why he is not in the Poll? Did I miss something? Did he recall his candidacy?

The poll is about 2 candidates Saive and Weikart. However there is also the third candidate: The current VP of ITTF- from Qatar! The Qatar lobby has certainly big money and the might have the votes of Middle East/Africa and Asia! Why he is not in the Poll? Did I miss something? Did he recall his candidacy?

This poll started before the 3rd person announced his candidacy, that's why.

Another thing to know. ITTF is organized just like FIFA (for a reason). Each of the national federations that comprise the ITTF have two delegates at the Annual General Meeting (where the President is chosen) and each delegate gets one vote. There are currently 222 national federations! So a vote from a delegate from Vanatu or the Solomon Islands counts exactly the same as the vote of a delegate from China or one from Germany. All the countries get the same number of delegates, regardless of the population of the country or the number of players in the country.

One way Sharara (just like FIFA presidents) made sure he stayed in power was by making sure the ITTF showered as many resources as they could on very small national associations (for example in the south Pacific). Weikert is a crony of Sharara. Incumbents have the advantage in that the people who actually vote will have benefited from his largess. By contrast, they owe Saive nothing and probably don't care at all that he was a great player.

Note that Weikert lists this in his website announcing his candidacy:"One World – One Game – One Level: Further implementation and development of existing ITTF development programmes. Both establishing and further developing table tennis in “small” nations with the help of the federation’s development programmes, and pushing high performance across the world......"

This announces that he will continue to pay the bribes just as Sharara did before. And so we end up with a president who thinks TTX is a good idea.

All in all, I think the odds of Saive or anybody but Weikert winning are practically zero. It is very unfortunate.

If Baal is correct (and I suppose he is) it would make sense to look for or to form an alternative to ITTF mid/long term. There's already the hardbat-association, CTTAA doesn't give much about ITTF-rules within China anyway and then there is the USATT, JTTAA and ETTU also who may possibly support some opposition if it is in their interest.

I noticed earlier today that Weikert wrote this in his report to the Annual General Meeting, which will be held later this year, and in which the election will take place. "Our mission must be that small and economically weaker regions receive our support via the Development Programme; the aim being that in such countries table tennis has a secure structure, a basis for growth. It is not only equipment that may be needed, equally education and training is vital."

That dog whistle means he is open for business and will win easily and overwhelmingly.

Want to make TT popular in "smaller countries"? Not by giving them $, but by making it fun and affordable (cheap). TT has become so expensive, (and dare I say not as fun as it use to be). By "fun" I don't mean TTX

Look at TT in China in the 60's and 70's, it was cheap to play and any (well almost any) kid could afford to play. When I was a kid in primary school (elementary school) in Hong Kong, the bat set up was probably less than a dollar USD for a kid. Most of my classmates played SP CPen. Why? That was the cheapest and durable set up (with just one rubber). The reason was not we ate with chopsticks although I've heard that to be a reason so many times.

Soccer / Football in Brazil many years ago? My dad travelled there many times and he used to tell me stories. Kids, couldn't afford shoes so they played bare-footed, but they played well!

That's how TT became popular in China, and football in Brazil, in the early years. Now, each is a superpower in the sport.

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